The ARRL says experimental operations on the 600-meter band have so far racked up over 200,000 hours of operation and nearly 600 contacts with zero reported complaints of interference from electric utilities, which use the band for controlling parts of their distribution networks. In addition, none of the participants in the experiment report encountering interference from utilities.
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| The WD2XSH QSL card (via W4DEX.com) |
The operations, using
experimental license WD2XSH, have been using 465-515 kHz, in an effort to gauge
interference potential once the FCC authorizes general amateur access to the
472-479 kHz (630-meter) and 135.7-137.8 kHz (2200-meter) bands. One of the
matters the FCC is considering is whether hams in certain areas will need to
provide advance notice of operations to nearby utility companies.
The
two bands are already available to hams in a dozen countries, according to the ARRL Letter, and as of May 31 of this
year, the League's experimental operators had made 578 contacts around the
world. Propagation between North America and Australia has been reported as
good and "relatively predictable," while paths to Japan and Europe
have had less activity.
